This invention relates generally to hair play for dolls and particularly to hair play involving color change.
Perhaps one of the most common activities indulged in by young children in playing with dolls is that which utilizes some form of hair play. As used in the toy art, hair play embraces various activities such as grooming, styling or cutting the dolls hair. Also embraced with the term hair play is the utilization of various articles of ornamentation such as hair clips and the like.
Within the hair play activities provided by practitioners in the art, hair styling has become an extremely exciting and creative aspect due in part to the creation of hair fibers, which are described, as xe2x80x9cposablexe2x80x9d. Such fibers have been largely the result of developments in synthetic materials with particular attention to cold temperature setting characteristics. The wide variety of thermoplastic materials having suitably high molecular weights for utilization in posable hair fibers has contributed greatly to the development of hair play toys.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,234,370 issued to Shapero et al. sets forth a POSABLE DOLL HAIR AND METHOD OF MANUFACTURE FOR THE SAME in which a posable hair is formed of an amorphous thermoplastic material having a relatively high molecular weight. The compound includes plasticizers, heat stabilizers and lubricants.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,180,325 issued to Eddins et al. sets forth a POSABLE HAIR STRAND FOR TOY DOLL including a ductile and formable center core fiber and an outer casing surrounding the center core. The center core fiber preferably includes a multifilament yarn fiber which is impregnated with a relatively soft formable wax material.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,382,607 issued to Ryan et al. sets forth a FIGURE TOY HAVING FIBERS IMPREGNATED WITH INDICATOR DIE in which a doll includes portions such as hair impregnated with an indicator die capable of repeated and reversible color change in response to contact with liquids of different pH concentrations.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,903,640 issued to Dunn sets forth a CHANGEABLE HAIR DOLL having two sections of simulated hair of differing characteristics secured to opposite sides of a rotatably mounted hemispherical head portions extending generally from the forehead area to the lower crown area of the head. Rotation of the hemispherical portion moves either of the two hair sections into prominence on the doll head.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,781,647 issued to Doane, Jr. sets forth a TOY DOLL CONSTRUCTION WITH PHOSPHORESCENT HAIR FIBERS the particle size of the phosphorescent materials within the dolls hair is carefully controlled to provide hair which is capable of xe2x80x9cglowing in the darkxe2x80x9d.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,874,345 issued to Dirks sets forth a DOLL WITH CHANGEABLE HAIR PIECE in which a doll head includes means for releasably mounting changeable hairpieces thereon. The hairpieces include suction cup portions which snap onto the doll head to maintain a tight fit.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,607,338 issued to Landi sets forth a TOY WITH UNRAVELABLE CORD MATERIAL FOR SIMULATING HAIR OR FUR in which lengths of flexible unravelable cord material simulate hair or fur. The cord material may be unraveled into individual strands or groups of strands which simulate strands of hair.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,842,905 issued to Lee et al. sets forth a PROCESS FOR MAKING A TEMPORARY COLOR CHANGE IN A PLASTIC MATERIAL having a doll supporting a quantity of hair formed of a plastic material. A colorless but pH sensitive indicator solution is applied to the plastic doll hair without changing its color. A developer solution of a specific pH range is subsequentially applied to the doll hair causing the color of the hair to change.
A number of patents set forth various doll hair fibers having a variety of different physical properties. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,083,967 issued to Yokoe et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 5,411,800 also issued to Yokoe et al. set forth specific synthetic fiber compositions used in making improved doll hair similarly, European Patent Application 0,292,907 filed on behalf of Yokoe sets forth a synthetic fiber suitable for use in dolls hair consisting essentially of an acrylonitrile polymer comprising thirty to eighty by weight of an acrylonitrile polymer and seventy to twenty percent by weight of a vinyl chloride and a vinylidene chloride.
In accordance with a relatively recently emerging technology, a number of temperature sensitive color change materials and paints have been developed. Such materials have become widely used and widely known in the art. The basic function of such materials is to provide a capability for changing the color of an object or material by changing its temperature. Such color change materials often exhibit two states characterized by a clear colorless state and a color change state. Still other color change materials exhibit different opaque states of different colors in response to different temperatures. As would be expected, a substantial number of toy products using such color change materials have been provided by practitioners in the art. While the number of such products is substantial, examples are found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,716,253 issued to Aoki et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,503,583 issued to Hippely et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,085,607 issued to Shibahashi et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 4,826,550 issued to Shimizu et al. These patents are simply illustrative of a substantial body of known art which utilizes color change materials for toy products.
While the foregoing described prior art toys have to some extent improved the art and in some instances enjoyed commercial success, there remains nonetheless a continuing need in the art for evermore improved, interesting and amusing toys having hair play features.
Accordingly, it is a general object of the present invention to provide an improved hair play doll. It is a more particular object of the present invention to provide an improved hair play doll having a color change feature associated therewith. It is a still more particular object of the present invention to provide an improved hair play doll which combines the interest of color change capability together with the activities associated with hair styling and crimping.
In accordance of the present invention there is provided